The HRIC Daily Brief is a daily selection of news stories and commentary related to human rights in China, drawn from Chinese- and English-language news and online media sources that we monitor daily. In addition to headlines and source links, HRIC also provides English translation of Chinese headlines.

Monday, January 17, 2005

January 15-17, 2005

Top news of the day

Detention – Huang Jinquo (黃金高)
Former party chief sacked for anti-corruption efforts
福建反腐书记黄金高被免职
Chinesenewsnet.com, January 17, 2005
Huang Jinquo, former party chief in Fujian province who was also known for his anti-corruption efforts, was formally sacked by the CPC for corruption allegation.
http://www1.chinesenewsnet.com/gb/MainNews/Opinion/2005_1_16_
12_17_31_601.html

June 4th – prisoners – Zhao Ziyang (趙紫陽)
Ex-Chinese Communist Leader Zhao Dies
AP via YahooNews.com, January 17, 2005
Former Chinese Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang died early Monday morning at a Beijing hospital after being put under house arrest for over 15 years.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=516&ncid=731&e=
2&u=/ap/20050117/ap_on_re_as/obit_zhao_ziyang





News

Corruption
CPC Central Committee issues outline for anti-corruption work
Xinhuanet.com, January 17, 2005
Party committee issued an outline for the establishment of an anti-corruption work mechanism that serves to punish and prevent corrupt activities by cadres.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/16/content_2468661.htm

Excerpted article: Anti-corruption strategy in 2005
《瞭望东方周刊》:2005,中国反腐战略转折
EastDay.com, January 17, 2005
Anti-corruption efforts in 2004 provided useful insights to the government in advancing anti-corruption strategies and measures in the government and party structure.
http://china.eastday.com/eastday/news/node37955/node37957/node
37979/node47079/userobject1ai802871.html

Death penalty
Death sentence prisoners allowed seeing family before execution
北京准许死刑犯临刑会见家属
Xinhuanet.com, January 17, 2005
Beijing courts allow prisoners on death penalty seeing their family before execution in order to humanizing the image of the court.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2005-01/17/content_2468818.htm

Disaster
Officials urged to modernise disaster warning system
SCMP, January 17, 2005
Civil affairs officials urge the government to modernize existing disaster warning system and step up efforts in information sharing with neighboring countries after the disastrous tsunami struck the region.
http://china.scmp.com/chimain/ZZZ9AV7HJ3E.html

Education / Human rights - right to education
Many rural pupils cheated of their right to schooling
SCMP, January 15, 2005
A survey revealed that a large number of students in rural areas had failed to achieve 9-year compulsory education, leaving overall dropout rate to have reached as high as 10 % in some areas.
http://china.scmp.com/chimain/ZZZSM1CHJ3E.html

Human rights / corruption
Reforms foiled by corruption, says rights watchdog
SCMP, January 15, 2005
Human rights report said the progress of legal and political reform last year were undermined by official corruption, medial censorship and enduring restrictions on freedom of speech on the Mainland.
http://china.scmp.com/chimain/ZZZY33CHJ3E.html

Labour – industrial accidents
Coal mine accidents claim 6,027 lives last year
Xinhuanet.com, January 17, 2005
Official statistics recorded a death toll of 6,027 people in coal mine accidents in 2004, or 6 % lower than the fatalities recorded in 2003.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/17/content_2470139.htm

Politics – CPC
68m cadres kept on the straight and narrow
SCMP, January 17, 2005
CPC unveiled the launch of a three phase-ideological program for the 68 million members to improve cadres’ “progressiveness”.
http://china.scmp.com/chimain/ZZZHOKBHJ3E.html

Poverty
"Go-west" speeds up in next five years
Xinhuanet.com, January 17, 2005
The government commits to invest more in the western region in the next five years, focusing on building up domestic infrastructure and improving ecological environment.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/17/content_2469451.htm

Public health
Chinese pay more for medical services
Xinhuanet.com, January 17, 2005
Latest statistics from the Ministry of Health revealed that the rising cost of medicine and medical treatment led to people’s increasing medical expenditure over the past few years.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/17/content_2469272.htm

Public health – HIV aids
Father of private Aids orphanages dies in Beijing
SCMP, January 15, 2005
Zhu Jinzhong, one of the pioneers of private Aids orphanages on the mainland, died of pneumonia last Thursday.
http://china.scmp.com/chimain/ZZZGDB8HJ3E.html

Resettlement – protests
Shannxi rural villager protesters jailed for defending the right to land
陕西农民因抵制征地被判重刑
Radio Free Asia, January 16, 2005
27 villagers in Shannxi were given 3 to 15 years of jail terms for protesting against land deal with government.
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/xinwen/2005/01/16/dizhizhengdi/

Rural issues – taxation
Agricultural tax exempted in 22 provinces
中国22省份宣布免征农业税 全面取消将提前实现
People’s Daily, January 17, 2005
Agricultural tax is now exempted in 22 provinces, well ahead schedule stated in Premier Wen’s 5-year plan.
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/3124700.html

SOEs / Corruption
Firms rapped for inept accounting
SCMP, January 17, 2005
Beijing gets serious in correcting a culture of inept auditing at state-owned companies, starting with a probe into the most recent audits of the mainland’s biggest 181 SOEs.
http://china.scmp.com/chimain/ZZZZPKBHJ3E.html

Society / poverty
Low income group under pressure as price level increases
物价上涨使低收入人群感到压力
China Youth Daily, January 17, 2005
A survey revealed low income groups found more difficult to take up increasing price level as compared to last year.

Trafficking
Police in Yunnan detain 30 would-be illegal immigrants
SCMP, January 17, 2004
Border police in Yunnan nabbed a group of Chinese to be smuggled to Japan or Britain via Myanmar.
http://china.scmp.com/chimain/ZZZTWB9HJ3E.html

Other - Hong Kong – human rights
Concern over 'erosion of rights' in HK
SCMP, January 15, 2005
Human Rights Watch raised concerns over HK’s human rights condition after universal suffrage for HK had been ruled out by the NPC.
http://china.scmp.com/chitoday/ZZZ17T9HJ3E.html